Man thinks it was harder to come out as Tory than come out as gay: ‘The old stigma still lingers’
Cameron Molyneux. (Facebook/ Cameron Molyneux)
A gay Tory in Liverpool has insisted he faces “discrimination” for voting Conservative, even comparing his experience to fatphobia.
Cameron Molyneux, 23, told the Liverpool Echo that he has been supporting the Conservative Party since the 2010 general election, meaning that he was around 11-years-old when he became a Tory.
Molyneux finds it hard to date, as he says there is a “stigma” around his political views.
He said: “A lot of the old stigma still lingers, the attitude and the views that people still think the Conservatives are a party of the 80s… You see it on dating apps all the time, ‘No fats, no fems, no Tories.’ It’s the three rules.”
While he admitted that voting Conservative is a “personal choice”, he added: “Discriminating against body image or discriminating against how someone presents is something we all get up in arms about it, we defend them, we side with them but for political beliefs… there is a fair amount of discrimination still around.”
Molyneux, a law student whose parents are Labour voters, insisted that “coming out” as a Tory was harder than coming out as gay.
“It was a bigger shock coming out to my family as Conservative than it was coming out as gay,” he recalled.
“Telling them I had a boyfriend at the time, he was welcomed with open arms and told him to come in, telling them I was Conservative, was not a conversation for the dinner table.”
Molyneux said he became more politically active after he appeared on Question Time and was “dismissed” by Emily Thornberry when he asked a question about Brexit. Since then, he has stood for his local council, acted as secretary for his local association and assisted on Conservative MPs’ campaigns.
He insisted that Conservatives “are no more or less homophobic than anyone else”, although many may disagree considering the party’s failures when it comes to LGBT+ rights.
Today’s Conservative Party, led by a man who has never apologised for describing gay men as “tank topped bum boys”, has proposed a conversion therapy ban with religious exemptions, has completely scrapped plans for vital Gender Recognition Act (GRA) reform, and has stood by as anti-LGBT+ hate crimes soar.
Just this month, parliament began debating the Tories’ Nationality and Borders Bill, which would have a devastating impact on LGBT+ asylum seekers.
